The Fall Guy disappoints at the US box office, The Phantom Menace in Force

The action comedy starring Ryan Goslging and Emily Blunt starts less well than expected.

Times are tough in Hollywood. Barely recovered from Covid, American cinemas took the full brunt of the writers' and actors' strike, which put the industry on pause for several months. Marvel is down this year, with only one film on the schedule in 2024 (Deadpool & Wolverine which will be released in July), and few blockbusters take advantage of the super hero tired to fill the rooms.

The Fally Guy is a new example. With $28 million this weekend, David Leitch's film is below projections, which placed it in the 30-40 million range. It cost $130 million, and it will have to perform over time (and internationally) to hope to be repaid. Hard for this action comedy carried by two big stars (Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt), a successful promo and a promise of fun supposed to attract spectators.

Should we see this as a sign of a gap between major productions and public expectations? Second place in US box office is occupied by… The Phantom Menacewhich benefited from a massive release in the United States for the 25th anniversary of the first episode of the prelogy Star Wars, once reviled and today largely rehabilitated. The adventures of young Anakin and Jar-Jar Binks have raised $8 million on 2,700 screens, a nice tour de force for a film that is ultra-accessible in streaming.

Zendaya and Challengers are relegated to third position on the podium, with a total of almost 30 million in the second week. The only other novelty in the top 10, the horror film Tarot (The Cards of Evil in French) follows in 4th place, ahead of Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom And Civil War.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is still there (8th) in the 9th week and confirms its great success with 188 million dollars collected in North America for the smallest budget of the franchise (85 million). This is less true for Ghostbusters: The Ice Menace (10th) which brought in 109 million and cost 100.